Floor drain assemblies are commonly used in the food industry for draining condensation, spills, cleaning solutions, and other fluids from the floors of food processing plants. A typical floor drain assembly comprises: a drain box or other receiving structure which is installed in the floor and has an upper opening substantially at floor level for receiving floor drainage; a sub-floor drain conduit extending from the receiving structure for delivering the drainage material to a sewer or waste water treatment system; and a downwardly extending, sub-floor drain trap (such as, e.g., a curved downwardly extending P-trap) provided in the drain conduit. The trap is configured such that a sufficient liquid level is maintained in the lower curved portion of the trap to prevent odors and gases from backflowing through the drain into the plant environment.
It is now recognized in the industry that Listeria monocytogenes and other pathogens can be particularly prevalent on the floors and in the floor drain systems of food processing plants. Unfortunately, although hundreds of gallons of floor sanitizing solutions can be flushed down the floor drains of a food processing plant as a matter of daily practice, the floor drain assemblies are typically configured such that that the sanitizing solutions are unable to reach and sanitize all of the internal surfaces of the drain. This is particularly so in the case of drain assemblies which include P-traps or other downwardly extending drain trap structures beneath the floor surface. Thus, a need exists for an effective method and apparatus for sanitizing the sub-floor pipe work of the floor drain assemblies used in food processing plants and other facilities.